The 2012 Whitney Biennial Opens Today

In an undeniably diverse and comprehensive survey of the state of American contemporary art, the Whitney Museum of American Art today launches its 76th annual Biennial. This iteration (which is up through May 27) sees an expansion of ongoing programming, including an extensive film series, live/interactive installations, a variety of performances and even a fashion show taking place on May 20, conceived by the multimedia artist K8 Hardy.

The thoroughly considered exhibition, co-curated by Elisabeth Sussman and Jay Sanders, is a pleasurable and fully immersive experience comprising an incredibly broad spectrum of art practices. I found myself roaming about the exhibition with ease and increasing curiosity (something I can't say for the last few Biennials, which felt disorienting and were more or less stress-inducing affairs).

Nearly the entire 6,000 square foot fourth floor of the museum has been designated as a performance space for music, theater, dance and a host of other events. The LA-based artist Wu Tsang created an installation on the floor that serves as a green room for participating biennial performers. This space also acts as a screening room for the artist's film WILDNESS, a documentary about a LA bar and its vibrant cast of regulars: a highly entertaining crew of transgendered Latinas. Just down the hall is a room inhabited by an animatronic puppet boy created by Giséle Vienne (with installation contributions from Stephen O'Malley and Peter Rehberg), who recites a remarkably disturbing dialogue written by the fiction author and art critic Dennis Cooper.

The film element of this year's Biennial is broad to say the least. The celebrated independent filmmaker Kelly Reichardt will be screening her Oregon trilogy (2006-2010) — the highlight is the 104 minute-long Meek's Cutoff, which features absolutely striking landscapes of the great West and a pair of stellar performances from Michelle Williams and Paul Dano. The always weird and wonderful Werner Herzog contributed a multimedia installation that celebrates the work of the Dutch landscape painter Hercules Segers and the composer Ernst Reijeseger, who has made many a soundtrack for the documentary film master.

There's plenty of formal art viewing to take in. Three of Nicole Eisenmann`s fantastic figurative paintings can be found throughout the show, including in the museum's lobby (Eisenman will also hold a figurative drawing class in the galleries on March 16th). More figurative work could be seen in the brilliantly shiny, realistic, Rennaissance-style paintings of TM Davy.

The much-loved and recently deceased Mike Kelley, a Detroit native, has three film works based on his public art project, `Mobile Homestead', which is a comment on Detroit's social history. These films will screen May 16 through May 20.

The Whitney has posted a schedule of the many events on its website for more information.

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